Is This Justice? Student Design Exhibit

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Last month 200 t-shirts appeared on clotheslines and coat hangers throughout Oakland. From City Hall to Lake Merritt to Fruitvale BART, the shirts carry messages about violence prevention, incarceration, community and freedom. Created by students in the Restorative Justice Leaders program, a collaboration between Community Works and MetWest High School in Oakland, the shirts invite us to consider the rapid growth of the U.S. prison system and ask, Is This Justice?

Beginning this July, come see these shirts on display at the Main Library TeenZone and participate in the discussion. What is justice? Are prisons the solution to crime and violence? Who will step up to make our communities more safe and just?

The shirts were collaboratively designed by Guayo Cartagena, Kaliyah Killens, Kiah Killens, Luis Galvan, with support from teaching artists Evan Bissell and Arianna Caplan. Over the last six months the students explored ideas and practices relating to restorative justice and incarceration. The goal was to raise awareness about efforts to make Oakland safer through restorative justice by weakening the connection between the prison system and schools.